Thursday, January 3, 2013

TAKE A LOOK AT WEEK TWO

While we wait for results from the limited breed shows in
Palm Springs, let’s look at our upcoming shows for next week.

A chilly Niagara Falls

It will be a week where exhibitors stamina will be
challenged along with their dogs.Five
day clusters will available in three different locations.It will be cold in Hamburg NY, some 13 miles
from Buffalo, but Wednesday the Kennel Club of Niagara Falls will kick off their
two days with the Nickel City Cluster. The Kennel Club Of Buffalo will follow with
two, and the Ashtabula Kennel Club will close the stop on Sunday.There will be a very respectable 5500 points
up for grabs.It may be a cliché, but
Niagara Falls is worth a DRIVE BY, especially in winter.Local Sharon Skelley recommends a tour of
Graycliff, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed estate, perched on a cliff above Lake
Erie.Sharon also has a DOGGY BAG suggestion,
the Armor Inn Tap Room at 5381 Abbott Road in Hamburg, a serious pub grub
establishment with a nice beer selection.I spent a year traveling around upstate New York and I discovered that
such taverns to be the only way to survive the winters.

If you want a little bit more bearable weather, try the “Celebrate
Virginia” Cluster starting also starting Wednesday.The Northern Neck Kennel Club Of Virginia,
the Greater Fredericksburg Kennel Club, and the Chesapeake Kennel Club Of
Maryland will host the quintet.However,
the week’s main attraction is the beginning of the Florida Marathon, twelve
shows in seventeen days, all at the Greater Ocala Show Grounds.The first leg, officially called “The Florida
Gulf Coast Cluster I”, consists of five shows beginning Friday, January 11th
followed by three shows running Friday, January 18th through Sunday,
January 20th, all hosted by the Clearwater Kennel Club, the Manatee
Kennel Club, the Tampa Bay Kennel Club, and the Pasco Florida Kennel Club.The first two legs will be followed by the “The
Gat-R-Done Cluster”, four days with the Lake Eustis Kennel Club and the Greater
Gainesville Dog Fanciers Association.Once it’s all over, the judges will have done almost 15,000
examinations. How about a national
ranking and a tan?

The largest single shows of the week are in Puyallup WA
where the Tacoma Kennel Club, the Sammamish Kennel Club, and the Puyallup Valley Dog Fanciers
have drawn over 6000 dogs to the “Western Washington Cluster” starting
Friday.If you only have Saturday and
Sunday off try the Corpus Christi Kennel Club’s two shows in Sinton TX, the two shows hosted by the Golden Triangle Kennel
Club Of Mississippiin Starkville
MS, a weekend in Oshkosh WI with the Winnegamie
Dog Club and the Oshkosh Kennel Club, or the Greater Lowell Kennel Club’s duo
in Fitchburg MA.

Wherever you are you will be among the first to see this
year’s crop of hopefuls.We will join in
next week in Portland OR.Everything
points to another banner year.

NUMBER EIGHT

NUMBER NINE

NUMBER TEN

SHOW INFO

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The author has been attending dog shows as a spectator and exhibitor for over 45 years. He is a retired management consultant who has advised multiple organizations affiliated with the AKC and the Cat Fanciers Association on business management, long range planning, customer service, and legislative matters. After 25 years of living in the big cities of New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, he now resides in his hometown of Memphis, TN.

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